Quality public services are the foundation of democratic societies and successful economies. They ensure that everyone has equal access to vital services, including as health care, education, electricity, clean water and sanitation. When these services are privatised, maximizing corporate profits replaces the public interest as the driving force. Privatisation is a dangerous trend that must be reversed.

PSI along with Corporate Accountability International and other partners is circulating a letter in support of the Our Water Our Right coalition in Lagos - to show global support for their opposition to a NEW and IMMINENT privatization threat. PSI has been fighting water privatization in Lagos for several years.

Unions and civil society organisations have warned about the devastating effects of the privatisation of education on both students and teachers during the launch of a new study on Liberia’s PSL project.

Over 170 unions and civil society organisations from around the world have released a statement calling on investors to cease support for Bridge International Academies, a company running over 500 commercial private schools in the Global South with the support of international donors and investors.

Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are driving privatisation on a global scale. They pose a very real threat to public sector services and may even prevent attempts to re-nationalise when privatisation fails.

Civil society call on investors to cease support to Bridge International Academies - Growing evidence and analysis published in the last two years that raise grave concerns regarding Bridge’s transparency, relationship with governments, labour conditions, and breach of educational standards.

Authors of the recently launched Spotlight Report will present key findings and recommendations to participants for discussion. The 2017 edition focuses on privatization, partnerships, corporate capture and the impact they have on sustainability and inequality.

Civil society call on investors to cease support to Bridge International Academies - Growing evidence and analysis published in the last two years that raise grave concerns regarding Bridge’s transparency, relationship with governments, labour conditions, and breach of educational standards.

PSI is working with a number of allies to put pressure on the World Bank to stop promoting water privatization under the disguise of public private partnerships (PPPs). Send a letter to the World Bank Executive Director representing your country asking that the World Bank end all support for water privatization!

On 22 March, PSI celebrated World Water Day. The UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 requires that governments ensure universal access to water and sanitation by 2030. However, we are seeing a new push for public-private partnerships (PPPs). We know that PPPs fail to deliver social and environmental targets, and PSI will help affiliates block this approach. We call for a rights-based approach, with public finance and management in the interests of all.

According to Corporate Accountability International, groups plan a series of escalating events to expose the truth about Nagpur’s failed PPP water privatization scheme promoted by the Modi government and World Bank. A group of trade unions in India is addressing a global petition to the World Bank.

A group of trade unions in India is addressing a petition to the World Bank, calling on them to end their promotion and financial support of all forms of water privatisation and acknowledge the failures behind it.

Staff at London's National Gallery, organised by PSI affiliate the Public and commercial services union (PCS), have been on strike since February 2015 following the Gallery's decision to privatise almost all staff, including those who look after the paintings and help the gallery's six million annual visitors.

Millions of pounds of UK aid money has been used to support the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity system. The result has been a disaster with escalating energy prices, job losses and declining quality of services. PSI has joined Global Justice Now and UNISON in their campaign to stop this privatisation.

Speak out and take a stand against racism and xenophobia! On the eve of the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 21 March 2014, Rosa Pavanelli, General Secretary of the global union federation Public Services International affirms that “our commitment to fight racism and all forms of discrimination is guided by respect for human rights and basic union principles: social justice, equality, collective action and collective responsibility”.

The global union federation Public Services International and our affiliate unions in Peru call on supporters around the world to send a strong message to the Peruvian government: ‘Don’t sell off Peru’s public water and sanitation services for private profit!’

Please support the letter to the investors and companies that wish to partake in the privatisation of the water company of Thessaloniki. We ask them to withdraw their bid as they are not wanted in Thessaloniki.

This paper, published in the March edition of The Journal of Development Studies, was written by Kate Bayliss and Elisa Van Waeyenberge. It examines the recent resurgence of interest in public-private partnerships (PPPs) to provide infrastructure in developing countries.

Extract from the Civil Society Report "Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017" -the new global report assesses how privatization and corporate capture have become obstacles to progress under the 2030 Agenda.

Extract from the Civil Society Report "Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017" -the new global report assesses how privatization and corporate capture have become obstacles to progress under the 2030 Agenda.

Reclaiming Public Services is vital reading for anyone interested in the future of local, democratic services like energy, water and health care. This is an in-depth world tour of new initiatives in public ownership and the variety of approaches to deprivatisation.

This PSIRU Brief, written by Emanuele Lobina, discusses some of the categorical errors mainstream economists make in predicting the outcome of water renationalisation. It argues that these errors are due to the misrepresentation of the ethos and motivation of the public and private sectors.

This PSIRU Brief, written by Emanuele Lobina, shows that water privatisation in England and Wales has led to a concerning increase in water poverty, and that economic regulator Ofwat is part of the problem. It argues that renationalisation is needed to tackle water poverty.

This study, written by Jeff Powell of the Public Services International Research Unit at Greenwich University, draws on extensive research and outlines a range of issues with PPPs which are often ignored including the lack of real efficiency gains, higher long term costs and the rife opportunities for corruption.

At the initiative of PSI and in conjunction with the National Federation of Public Service Unions of Togo, a sub-regional seminar on "Public-Private Partnership and the Right to Health" was organised from 7 to 8 February 2017 at Jesse House Hotel, in Lomé, TOGO.

PSI, with ILO/ACTRAV and ILO/GED support, held a meeting 8-9 of December 2016, on "The Role of Public Service Trade Unions in achieving Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities" in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting built on a survey conducted by PSI and ILO of PSI affiliates’ initiatives on disability inclusion, and on ILO research giving a global overview of trade unions actions on disability inclusion.

PSI affiliate, The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), Canada, has released an update of a report on privatisation and emerging threats to public services—New Forms of Privatization. While privatisation schemes may be changing, the motivation has not. “Privatisation is still about helping wealthy corporations or individuals make a profit at the public’s expense,” said Larry Brown, NUPGE President

This policy brief on International Financial Institutions (IFIs) was produced for the PSI Executive Board EB-148 held at the ILO in Geneva (Switzerland) on 19-20 May 2016. Its objective is to inform EB-148 of progress in IFI work. The brief is available in English, French, Spanish, German, Swedish and Japanese.

Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are driving privatisation on a global scale. They pose a very real threat to public sector services and may even prevent attempts to re-nationalise when privatisation fails.

Authors of the recently launched Spotlight Report will present key findings and recommendations to participants for discussion. The 2017 edition focuses on privatization, partnerships, corporate capture and the impact they have on sustainability and inequality.

The time is now for NGOs and trade unions to exchange ideas on potential advocacy and campaign activities for the year ahead and, if possible, agree on joint actions to further strengthen collaboration and work towards a global campaign on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).

Achieving Decent Work for All, and realising the Sustainable Development Goals, requires focussed work to include persons with disabilities. This PSI meeting, with the support of ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV) and the Gender, Equality and Diversity branch (GED), is an opportunity to develop knowledge, awareness and advocacy relevant for a range of actors in their governance, actions and aims.

The Civil Society Policy Forum (CSPF) has become an integral part of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group Spring and Annual Meetings, providing an open space for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to dialogue and exchange views with World Bank Group and IMF staff, their peers, government delegations, and other stakeholders on a wide range of topics.

The healthcare sector in South Asian countries has seen significant restructuring with an increase in private sector participation in provisioning. The discussion will explore the linkages between neoliberal reforms and informalisation of employment; explore the trends in employment patterns in Nepal, India and Sri Lanka; as well as look into some of the trade union responses to this growing phenomenon.

Australian affiliates have come together and asked an independent panel to investigate the impact of privatisation on workers and their communities. The Panel will also investigate what sort of services people want and need into the future. This inquiry seeks to hear from workers and the communities who rely on these services.

On 26 July, during the third session of the Preparatory Committee of the Habitat III Conference, PSI is organising with ICRICT and PSIRU a side event called “Financing and investing in urban public services: The key to inclusive cities”. PrepCom3 will be held in Surabaya, Indonesia, from 25-27 July at the Convention and Exhibition Hall Grand City Convex Surabaya.

The World Social Forum is the largest global gathering of civil society to find solutions to the problems of our time by building concrete alternatives to the neoliberal economic model and to politics based on the exploitation of human beings and nature.

For two days union leaders and policy leaders from the World Bank, the IMF and the U.S. Government led by Treasury, will discuss the global push for privatization, linking unions' national campaigns to regional and global dynamics.

The PSI/EPSU-ILO Roundtable on Labour Migration and Trade Union Rights is taking place in Yerevan, Armenia on 24-25 November. This meeting will be held in English, Russian and Armenian with the participation of PSI/EPSU affiliates, ILO Moscow ACTRAV and invited guests, experts and PSI staff.

As negotiations for the Post 2015 Development Agenda draw to a close at the United Nations, Member States are discussing means of implementation and financing. PSI is taking an active part in this process together with other trade unions and civil society partners.

In the run up to the Third UN Conference on Financing for Development (FFD) in Addis Ababa, PSI, together with eight civil society organising partners, is holding an event to raise concerns on the effects of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in health, education and water and sanitation and propose alternative policy options that are more compatible with social development.

A four-part documentary series telling the story of the European Union's confrontation with the Greek Syriza party in 2015 and how the European Union destroyed the first radical left government in modern history.

In this video, Juneia Batista, WOC Chair, talks about the situation in her home country, Brazil. She says that 2015 has started poorly, with the government introducing new measures to allow foreign capital into the Brazilian health system.

Representatives of PSI affiliates met in Geneva on 27-28 May 2015 for the PSI Executive Board meeting. In this video, Isolde Kunkel-Weber, Ver.di, Germany, says that her union is confronting cuts to public services. But even when services are privatised, the union makes its voice heard and demonstrates how important public services are for society. Ver.di is actively campaigning to demonstrate that kindergarten workers’ jobs need to be revalued in terms of status and salary, highlighting the importance of their role in caring for and educating children. (This video is in German)

Representatives of PSI affiliates met in Geneva on 27-28 May 2015 for the PSI Executive Board meeting. In this interview, Adeniyi Peters Adeyemi, Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU), Nigeria, speaks about privatisation, reforms and Ebola. He explains how Nigerian people have suffered under privatisation, and how in view of the consequences of privatisation, they are now joining in the unions’ opposition and asking the government to fix the problems. He also explains how Nigeria achieved good results in tackling the Ebola crisis.

PSI released a new report on 18 March 2015 "Why Public-Private Partnerships don’t work: The many advantages of the public alternative” at the “SDGs for Workers”, a Parallel Event sponsored by Global Unions at the NGO CSW Forum during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).

The Nagpur Municipal Corporation Employees Union is running a major campaign against the privatisation of water in the City of Nagpur as explained by Brother Jammu Anand, President of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation Employees Union, in a video.

Public Services International (PSI), the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), together with our affiliate unions, ADEDY, and allies in Greece brought together a team of expert union journalists and communicators. This solidarity exchange enabled PSI communicators from other countries to learn more about the issues facing Greek trade unionists and share this understanding with their union members and communities around the world.

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Public Services International is a global trade union federation representing 20 million working women and men who deliver vital public services in 154 countries. PSI champions human rights, advocates for social justice and promotes universal access to quality public services. PSI works with the United Nations system and in partnership with labour, civil society and other organisations.